Bengaluru by Day: Part 1

In India, it's pronounced "Hay-chh P"

After arriving in Bengaluru (Bangalore) late last night, we woke up for a day of seeing the sights.  The city is smaller than Chennai and seems more organized, in terms of zoning.  Modern buildings stand next to others of the same design and age.  In contrast, the modern buildings in Chennai are adjacent to, ummm… less modern buildings and houses.   In Chennai one can see an office building or shopping center next to old, crammed storefronts and houses.  The difference is mainly due to the recent, rapid growth of Bengaluru, thanks to the presence of American and European information technology (IT) companies and outsourced support for other firms.  The list includes many recognizable names: (Dell, Hewlett Packard, eBay, Unisys, IBM, Honeywell, and Accenture) and some unrecognizable names like European software and telecommunications companies whose names I won't write because you won't recognize them.  OK, I forgot the names, but you still wouldn't have recognized them.

Road Trip!

We went to Bengaluru (formerly Bangalore) over the Independence Day weekend to visit Rajan (Sheila's brother) and his wife Manju.  We started the trip, of course, by putting our clothes back into their suitcases and loading the van.  Essentials for the trip included droid phones and a tablet to keep the boys occupied with video games on the eight hour drive.  You can get a lot of mileage out of Angry Birds and Pumpkins vs. Monsters.

Passing a pedestrian on our way to Bengaluru

Once we left Chennai we drove past farmland.  The lack of population density is quite a contrast to the crowded streets of Chennai.  Although the "highway" was two narrow lanes in each direction, the traffic was pretty light and the surface was much, much smoother than the city roads.

A New Landmark

In prime real estate in Chennai, stands a large, unfinished, multi-story complex of over 1.6 million square feet.  It is the former future Tamil Nadu Legislative Assembly and Secretariat Complex.   When finished, the buildings were to house the state assembly, as well as offices of the chief minister and cabinet minister.  It was to be a breathtaking structure.

Artist's rendition.  Source: The Hindu

Double Vision

"What level are you on in Angry Birds?"

We visited cousin Sheila, her husband Navneeth, and their son.  Nikhil was very much looking forward to this because he wanted to meet their son who is also named Nikhil.  Even though our Nikhil is around 20 years younger than his Indian cousin, he insisted that he is "Nikhil number one."  So we just went with "Big Nikhil and "Little Nikhil," or "Your Nikhil" and "Our Nikhil." to avoid confusion in speech, there was no confusion in sight.

"He is heavy!  He's not my brother."

Chennai's Sights, Part 2

On this day we had a few errands to run and relatives to visit. As I've complained about before, no place that we have to go is close to the next place that we have to go.  So we spent a good few hours going from one place to another.

Museum Theater (Theatre, if you're Indian)

After lunch, we went to the Government Museum, aka the Madras Museum (someone didn't get the name-change memo).  Established in 1851, it is the second oldest museum in India.  You can tell that its Wikipedia page was written by an Indian because it states that the museum "was shifted to the present site in 1854"  (Indians don't move, they shift).

This is another tourist attraction at which one must pay to use a camera.  And at this place, someone actually checked our receipt to verify that we paid for a camera permit.

Signs that made us laugh

Does anyone know which part of the body is the "Thum"?

Chennai's Sights, Part 1

We decided to spend today sightseeing in Chennai proper.  The city center is closer to the flat than the zoo or Mahabalipuram.  But in terms of driving time, it's not much shorter.  As mentioned in the traffic entry, it takes forever to move around Chennai.  Fortunately, the places we decided to visit were in the same area, so it only took us a few hours to go from one place to another.

Temple entrance

Kapaleeshwarar Temple is in the Mylapore section of Chennai.  The original Kapaleeshwarar Temple was built in the 7th century CE/AD by the same dynasty that brought you Mahabalipuram.  The temple was destroyed centuries ago, allegedly by the Portuguese.  I'm just pulling these "facts" from Wikipedia, so they may or may not be true.  What is true is that this particular Kapaleeshwarar Temple ain't no 1,400 years old.  This iteration of the temple may be 500 years old (Wikipedia again). 

Dakshina Chitra

Located on the coast south of Chennai, Dakshina Chitra is a heritage village set aside to preserve the art, architecture, and handicrafts of South India.  The preserve contains replica houses from several parts of the south.  Artists display and sell their wares and sometimes they demonstrate their crafts.  These crafts include pottery, tapestries, and paintings.  Dakshina Chitra is the only tourist attraction in all of India with a gift shop.  OK, maybe I'm exaggerating.  It's the only tourist attraction in all of South India with a gift shop.

The Accidental Tourist Attraction

Despite being Americans, most of us look like the average Indian: brown skin, black hair.  Thuy, however, does not.  That meant that she had to pay the non-Indian entrance fee wherever we went.  This could be 10 times the Indian entrance fee, e.g. 20R for Indians at the zoo, 200R for Thuy.  OK, so 200R is a little over $4 and not a big deal in America.  But the difference, to Indians, is huge.

I did make the suggestion that Thuy claim to be from the northeastern part of India that borders Bhutan and Burma.  Many of the northeastern natives have phenotypic, cultural, and religious similarities with far-east Asians.  Interestingly, the Chennai edition of The Hindu (one of India’s national daily newspapers) ran an article about the large number of northeastern Indians who’ve moved to Chennai seeking jobs in the automotive industry.  So there was a glimmer of credibility to my lie.  Alas, the idea had no traction.

Mahabalipuram

Indian Ocean at Mahabalipuram

Mahabalipuram lies one hour south of Chennai on the Indian Ocean.  The city dates to the 3rd century CE/AD and was a major trading port, as demonstrated by fourth century Chinese and Roman coins in the archaeological record. What makes this site famous is the presence of stone carvings that date as far back as the seventh century CE/AD.

According to the Oracle at Wikipedia, some archaeologists believe that Mahabalipuram housed a sculpture school which explains the large number of artisans required to complete these works.